


On Logic

by helloyesIamtrash



Series: Inked at Midnight [24]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, And thats ok, Epilogue, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Kenma is Realistic, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, like the tiniest bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 15:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11694984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloyesIamtrash/pseuds/helloyesIamtrash
Summary: Though no one knows how or why, at midnight on a person’s 16th birthday, they get writing on their wrist, almost like a tattoo. This writing, whatever it says, has something to do with your soulmate. It’s usually something like the first thing they say to you after it appears, or an inside joke you two will have, maybe a phrase they say a lot. Simply a push in the right direction, fate’s little nudge-nudge wink-wink about what future you have in store.This is the story of how Kenma and Oikawa became soulmates.





	On Logic

**Author's Note:**

> o hey wow I'm not dead would ya look at that

Though no one knows how or why, at midnight on a person’s 16th birthday, they get writing on their wrist, almost like a tattoo. This writing, whatever it says, has something to do with your soulmate. It’s usually something like the first thing they say to you after it appears, or an inside joke you two will have, maybe a phrase they say a lot. Simply a push in the right direction, fate’s little nudge-nudge wink-wink about what future you have in store. 

Not all soulmates start off on good terms. They don’t immediately have a love-at-first-sight moment, a cutesy, blushy encounter, and the feeling of butterflies in their stomach that lasts for a solid twenty-four hours after. It’s unrealistic, and even though the tattoos have not been explained by science, it doesn’t make them magic by any means. This is still reality, and those who don’t think so are living in a fantasy. 

That’s what Kenma believed, anyways. 

He had always been a realist, someone who thought that logic was necessary to solve problems properly and was a fan of coding and math. There were clear rights and wrongs, formulas set in stone and a system that worked like a well-oiled machine. He liked that. It made sense.

People, though? They were unpredictable, and it made him wary. In his games, there were ways to victory that he could see in his mind, outlining them with the necessary potions, weapons, and skill set that he would need. Simple. With people, they needed to hear the right words at the right time said by the right person to have their emotions change the tiniest bit sometimes. They made assumptions, had a lack of control of how they felt, and not everything could be rationally explained. Kenma didn’t like it, and it made him uncomfortable. 

Of course, there were some exceptions, the main ones being Kuroo and his family. His family, of course, because he loved them and they raised him well. Kuroo, well, he tended to be an exception to everything at this point. He wasn’t too predictable, actually- many would say that he was mysterious and sly, in fact. But after years of friendship and companionship, Kenma could predict the small things, notice the habits and translate them into feelings. He was good at that - observation and translation of emotions with those he’s close to - and it helped him be a little more comfortable around Kuroo. Then again, he would always be comfortable around him regardless, but that’s besides the point. 

Soulmates, to him, were always illogical. Science had never explained how people got tattoos on their wrists that represented who they would be strongly bonded with, and it seemed far too good to be true, in his opinion. What bothered him was that people seemed to think that it had no bad side to it. That soulmates would never fight, be upset with each other, no- that it would be all sunshine and rainbows from that point on. That was what bothered Kenma, because it was unrealistic. Soulmates or not, humans are still human. Sure, they may make up afterwards and move on together, but they make mistakes and aren’t able to have a completely perfect life. And that’s okay. But the world doesn’t see it that way. 

His own soulmate tattoo seemed to reflect his ideas about the whole thing, ironically- ‘Sorry, I just don’t understand’ was written in neat, loopy blue handwriting. How ironic. 

Either way, Kenma simply wasn’t too interested in trying to seek out his soulmate. If he found his, fine. He wouldn’t ignore them, he wasn’t unkind, but he wouldn’t be foolish enough to assume that they would immediately become lovers and live happily ever after. 

Life goes on. 

“But come on, Kenma, statistically there’s gotta be someone with that fairy tale ending, right?” Kuroo pointed out as the bus rattled under a speedbump. To that he simply shrugged. 

“I suppose, but not everyone should assume they get it.” Kenma replied, and that was the end of that. The bus ride was fairly quiet, mostly because the others were strategizing. They didn’t know this new team as well. Kuroo had connected with some other team captain online who was apparently pretty good, and they had become good friends. Enough so that they asked their coaches to set up a practice match, and apparently the team, Seijoh, was a worthy enough opponent for Coach Nekomata to oblige. 

And honestly? They were definitely worthy. The minute they stepped out of those buses, he looked up for only a moment and saw their opposing team, saw the passion and training without them saying a single word. It radiated off of them, especially the one who seemed to lead all of them. Admittedly, he was very pretty, with a tall, lean stature, a charismatic smile, and a fire burning in the back of his eyes. When those eyes fell onto him, he looked away immediately. Most eye contact made him uncomfortable, but this one made his spine tingle… or was it his wrist? Nope. His spine. It couldn’t be his wrist, it couldn’t. 

The pretty guy happened to be Oikawa Tooru, the guy that Kuroo had been talking to online, who was exactly like Kuroo had described. Pretty, obnoxious, and driven. Someone not to underestimate. He could feel those eyes on the back of his head, probably marking him as the setter. He didn’t like the feeling in his chest.

The first set started, and each team was getting a feel for each other. Oikawa was up to serve first, but Nekoma was nothing if not adaptable. Give Yaku and Kuroo a few tries, and they managed to get the ball back in play without another ace serve, and boy did that get the other team startled. Intimidation tactics were definitely in play. Kenma watched every move, every shared whisper, every hand motion behind their backs that he could manage to make out. He took in, observed, and adjusted accordingly. 

Seijoh won the first set, but only because Kenma enjoyed the feeling of giving the other team a false sense of security. 

The next set, Lev was in to play, and that whip spike of his came in handy, honestly. It was something no one had seen before, and it clearly threw their precious setter for a loop, which was quite honestly something Kenma was starting to enjoy. He could see the small tick of annoyance in his face, how Oikawa’s eyes bore into him but he spoke nothing to him specifically, only cheering on his team in a high, childish voice.   
Nekoma took a silent but deadly second set, and the teams called for a break. 

Kenma was waiting outside in the hall to avoid all of the loud chatter of the teams, preferring the relative silence for at least a few minutes before he was called back in before he heard a voice, a familiar, breezy one that belonged to the setter on the other team. His blood ran cold. 

“... He’s probably nice or whatever, but the mini setter looks like he doesn’t care about anything, Iwa-chan! I see how hard his team works, how they’re sweating and putting in their all, but he’s just… standing there, quietly. He’s uninterested, even though he’s playing for his team and doing his job he’s doing the minimum amount of effort possible. I can see his potential, and he’s wasting it. Another damn prodigy.” Oikawa whined to his friend, the ace spiker, and they slowly turned the corner to see Kenma, sitting down and silently looking at them, his PSP all but forgotten in his hands. He faintly heard the ‘you died’ sound coming from his game, but he didn’t care. All he felt was rage, now. 

He could see the way the blood drained from Oikawa’s face, and how his friend looked at Kenma apologetically before turned to glare pointedly at him. Right, social norms declared an apology. 

“Sorry, I just don’t understand-” Oikawa had started to say, and Kenma cut him off, not even fully realizing exactly what Oikawa had said. He didn’t know, he didn’t care. All of his years at Nekoma with volleyball, though he wasn’t too good at showing it, were memories he treasured. He had a family in them, something that he had previously only had in Kuroo, so even though he hadn’t been too into the sport itself, he tried for them. So that he wouldn’t let them down. He wouldn’t let them down. 

Without another word, he simply walked off and let the words die in the other setter’s throat, letting the silence speak for itself. The next set, he would show Oikawa just how much he ‘didn’t care’. 

He rejoined his team and talked quietly, more than he had in weeks and while the team was shocked, especially Kuroo, his words were strong and strategic, and being the heart of Nekoma, the body and blood trusted him. He kept the heart pumping. 

For the final set, Kenma targeted weak spots that he had noticed throughout the first two sets. There was an angry wing spiker with strangely dyed hair (though he couldn’t say much about that without being hypocritical) was too quick, too blindingly arrogant. Riling him up was easy enough. The other wing spiker, the one that was also an ace, was tough to crack, reliable, like Karasuno’s Sawamura Daichi. Not much he could do there. The first years were good, but less experienced. He told Kuroo to aim for them. Make them flustered, make them weak, make them misstep. The third years in rotation were pretty stable, though the other two were a little lazier, but they were people not to send the ball to. The libero was pretty good as well, but not as experienced. The other setter who occasionally came in was definitely less confident in himself. Make him doubtful. This was his game, now. The rest were puppets. 

He made eye contact with Oikawa when the set ended, 21-25 in Nekoma’s favor. 

“I care.” His words were harsh and to the point, golden eyes boring into those doe-like brown ones, and for some reason, they looked more frightened than they should have been. His wrist felt electric. He didn’t question it, simply walking away to the bus and clambering on to have some silence and relaxation. His heart was beating fast and wow, that was too much social interaction with strangers for the day, more so in actions than in words. 

The others climbed onto the bus with victory chants, bowing to the other team and clambering on with big grins and high-fives and such. Kuroo sat next to him as usual, with a softer grin on his face. 

“You did good today kitten, but what got you so riled up?” Kuroo asked curiously, because of course Kuroo would notice of all people. Or at least, he would question him about it. 

“Your friend is a jerk.” Kenma muttered, not looking up from his game but thumbing the buttons harshly. 

“Wait, Oikawa? I mean, he can be sometimes, but he’s a really nice guy. Where did that come from?” Kuroo’s eyebrows were furrowed and he was taken aback now. Kenma paused his game and turned to Kuroo. 

“Overheard him and his friend talking about me. Told him that I didn’t care about anything even though you guys were giving it your all. Something about being a another prodigy or whatever.” Kuroo’s lips pursed at that and he sighed, looking back at the others for a moment (who were far too busy to overhear whatever Kuroo was about to say). 

“Okay kitten, I’m not saying what he did was right, because that was kind of a dick move, but you don’t know the whole thing. You remember Kageyama, right?” A nod from him. “Well, Oikawa was his senpai. He worked so hard for everything in the sport, throwing himself into it and working as hard as he could, probably too hard. He doesn’t have any raw abilities, he’s at his level right now because he trained more than anyone else I’ve known. And suddenly, a tiny first year waltzes in - Kageyama - and is better at him, at everything. But Kageyama ‘cared’, which was the difference. Oikawa knew that he would definitely surpass him, and he despised that. He brings out the best in a team, their natural abilities and the power they have, but when he sees a prodigy, like Kageyama, he gets jealous. 

“And to him, since he didn’t know you and how you worked, it looked like you didn’t care. He saw such potential that you weren’t using, which is a compliment, by the way, and hated that he didn’t have it, that you were ‘wasting’ it. Oikawa hated that you were at his level, without any of the blood, sweat, or tears that he had squeezed out over the years. He worked himself so hard that he hurt his knee pretty bad, too. He just doesn’t know where to stop because he thinks that he needs to get better if he can compete with Kageyama. With you. To him, you were another prodigy. You were a threat.” Kuroo finished seriously, and Kenma was quiet until Kuroo’s phone buzzed. Kenma peeked over. 

From: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
To: Me   
>> tetsu-chan!!!!! be a dear and give me pudding-chan’s #? I have to talk to him 

From: Me   
To: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
>> I’ll ask him if it’s cool hold on 

Kuroo turned to Kenma, whose nose was wrinkled in slight disgust, but his eyes were wary now, his lips pressed together. 

“Give him a chance, kitten. I’m sure he wants to apologize.” Kuroo said gently, and Kenma rolled his eyes in resignation and gave a shrug, which meant that it was fine, but he went immediately back to his PSP. 

From: Me   
To: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
>> Here it’s x(xxx)-xxx-xxxx but he’s tired out so he’ll probably reply tomorrow 

From: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
To: Me  
>> you’re the best tetsu-chan!!!! and I don’t wanna bother him I’ll text him in the morning~

From: Me   
To: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
>> Hurt him again and I’ll kill you. 

From: Probably Would Fuck An Alien   
To: Me   
>> duly noted <3 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

It was in the middle of the night when Kenma woke up in a cold sweat, realizing in growing horror exactly what words Oikawa had spoken to him the day before. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

From: Unknown   
To: Me   
>> hello~! Is this kozume-chan????? 

That was the text that Kenma had woken up to in the morning, and it made him terrified. Part of him didn’t want to answer at all, because fate seemed to hate Kenma even still. The soulmate that he was so wary of was Oikawa Tooru, the guy who had been rude to him was stupidly attractive… and annoying… and had gotten some actual emotion of out of him. That was terrifying to him. His phone buzzed again. 

From: Unknown   
To: Me   
>> look I know that I was kind of an ass yesterday and I wanted to apologize, I shouldn’t have assumed before I spoke to you. you played well. 

… Damnit. That was kind of nice, and Kuroo had always been a good judge of character no matter who it was, which meant that Oikawa was probably a nice person. He sighed heavily. 

From: Me  
To: Oikawa Tooru  
>> it’s fine 

There, done. He texted him back there was no need to ever text him again, perfect, he could just go back to his day aaaaaaand his phone just buzzed again. 

From: Oikawa Tooru  
To: Me   
>> !!! good I’m glad!!! I was worried that I had pissed off my soulmate and that isn’t exactly the best thing to do 

Shit, they were acknowledging it now, and Oikawa was most likely clueless about how against soulmates Kenma was. He felt a little bad, because it wasn’t like the guy didn’t deserve someone, it was that he felt uncomfortable just starting to date him. He knew that he at least deserved an explanation. 

From: Me  
To: Oikawa Tooru   
>> im not the most comfortable with soulmate stuff so im not just gonna date you and ride off into a sunset like other people

Great, now he was the one who sounded like an ass. 

From: Me   
To: Oikawa Tooru   
>> sorry I just   
>> romance isn’t my strong suit and new people make me uncomfortable   
>> I just don’t want you to get your hopes up for something that might not happen 

He waited patiently for a response, it took longer this time. 

From: Oikawa Tooru  
To: Me   
>> what about it do you not like, kozume-chan? 

… That was it? 

From: Me  
To: Oikawa Tooru   
>> people seem to think that soulmates are perfect and happy and ride off into the sunset on unicorns   
>> when in reality a soulmate is still a stranger that people will blindly trust and jump into it too quickly and it doesn’t turn out well   
>> they fall apart, because this is real life and life goes on nothing is guaranteed 

From: Oikawa Tooru  
To: Me   
>> well yeah  
>> from what i’ve seen tho dating is just a way to get to know each other more quickly???   
>> im not saying that i’ll force you to date me or smth   
>> but im not expecting you to jump in kozume-chan   
>> all im asking for is to give me a chance, be my friend at least 

Kenma was stunned, now, staring at his phone blankly. This was definitely not what he had expected, he hadn’t thought that Oikawa would be so nice about it. He had expected for him to take offense to that, because ‘soulmates were supposed to love each other’ or something like that and never speak to him ever again. This was actually a pleasant surprise. 

From: Me  
To: Oikawa Tooru   
>> I can do that 

From: Oikawa Tooru  
To: Me   
>> thank you   
>> and if you do fall for me then just tell me and we can talk it out ;P 

Kenma groaned. What had he gotten himself into? 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

He had gotten himself into quite a lot, apparently. Oikawa Tooru was like the wind- he was loud, his voice clear over the white noise with his strong conscious leading to good advice. He was quick, someone that you could get so easily swept into without even realizing until suddenly you’re in the eye of the storm and you didn’t even realize. He was sneaky, pushing Kenma towards places he would have never tried without a bit of prodding and yet he went, and liked it each time. Oikawa Tooru was blasting his way into Kenma’s heart, and by the time he realized that, it was far too late to stop it. 

He didn’t mind that Kenma didn’t text him nearly as often or wasn’t the best at initiating conversations, instead he texted him constantly to make up for it. It was always something interesting, like the time that he had run into a stray cat in his neighborhood and took it into the house, claiming that the calico looked just like the Nekoma setter himself. He ended up keeping that cat and naming it Pudding when no one had called his number on the fliers he had put up for months, and he sent pictures of her whenever he could. She was his baby. 

There was the time he had been at the arcade with Hanamaki, Matsukawa, and Iwaizumi and had texted Kenma about how he was determined to win a prize from the claw machine but didn’t know which one… It just so happened, though, that Kenma was the claw machine master. After Oikawa had followed the instructions of sending pictures of the claw machines to him, he told him which ones were the most easy to get and how to get them. Not five minutes later, he got a picture of Oikawa hugging a large plush elephant with a wide smile on his lips, followed by a ‘my hero kozume-chan!!!!!!’. That was the time that he had told him that ‘just kenma is fine’, without a second thought. He got a lot of exclamation points after that and Oikawa insisting that he call him Tooru. He reluctantly obliged. 

There had been a lot of late night conversations too, the ones where Oikawa knew that Kenma would be up and willing, where they talked about life and where they thought it was going. They talked about their worries and hopes, what they wanted and what they needed, their flaws and everything in between. Kenma felt like he could trust him, that Oikawa wouldn’t judge him for what he said during those late hours and that this was the true Oikawa that he was talking to. Those early hours were the times when Kenma felt a warmth in his chest and heat in his cheeks.

Nothing was brought up about soulmates. 

Now, though, they were heading to a training camp with Seijoh. The practice match had gone well, so Nekomata decided to make a private, short little camp that only lasted a few days and only involved their two teams. This time, Seijoh was coming to Nekoma, and Kenma couldn’t help the twisting, turning feeling that was knotting his stomach. 

“Kenma, you talk to him every day.” Kuroo rolled his eyes as he watched his friend anxiously tap away at his PSP, only for Kenma to look up at him sagely. 

“This is in person. This is different. I have to actually speak.” Kenma mumbled, looking around anxiously as he paused his game. Just then, the bus came lumbering up to the curb of the school grounds and Kenma’s eyes widened and he hid behind all of his tall teammates in the back. He wasn’t ready, he couldn’t do this, and when he peeked out shyly, Oikawa was the first one to step off of the bus, in all of his stupidly handsome and obnoxiously tall glory. Kenma let out a little huff. Unfair. 

“Tetsu-chan! Great to see you again, can’t wait to beat you this time.” Oikawa cooed oh-so sweetly, as was the usual routine with them, but he seemed distracted, looking around for something.

“Oikawa, it’s so sad to see you so deluded into believing that. But it’s good to see you, too.” Kuroo retorted easily, that smug grin on his face that mirrored the one on Oikawa’s. Iwaizumi gotten off next, then the rest of their team. He flicked Oikawa on the back of the head and gave Kuroo a little grin. 

“Thank you for having us, and thank you in advance for putting up with this one.” Iwaizumi said to Kuroo, and though Kuroo said something in return, Kenma kind of tuned it out because he had made his way to Kuroo’s side and Oikawa’s eyes landed on him and everything else seemed to slow down around him. 

Those big, brown eyes weren’t filled with fire, rage, or embarrassment this time. They were warm and happy, sparkling with life when they landed on his own. His lips pulled into a beautiful smile and he surged forward to hug Kenma gently, which Kenma feebly returned, but he ducked his head into the crook of his neck to hide his growing smile. If Oikawa could feel it, he didn’t say anything about it. 

“Hey, Ken-chan.” Oikawa said softly into his ear, and it sent shivers down Kenma’s spine. It was so different to actually hear that in person instead of reading it through a phone. 

“Hi, Tooru.” He mumbled into his skin, grateful that he could use his hair to hide the pink that was slowly growing on his cheeks. This continued for a little while longer before he heard two voices. 

“Aw, look at them being all lovey dovey. Bet we can beat them at their own game, Makki dearest.” Matsukawa drawled, looking at the two with clear amusement as he threw an arm around Hanamaki. 

“Mattsun, darling, I believe in the power of our love!” Hanamaki replied automatically, falling dramatically into his soulmate’s arms. Unfortunately, that was enough to make Oikawa release Kenma, if only to stick his tongue out at them. 

“Knock it off, like you two have any room to talk.” Oikawa huffed, and… that seemed a little weak? Where was the squawk of indignation, the fussing about how they shouldn’t embarrass his ‘Ken-chan’? Sure, they hadn’t met in person since the incident, but he still knew Oikawa, and this wasn’t like him. Kenma looked up at him in confusion, but Oikawa seemed to ignore it. 

“Anyway, show me around! I want to see everything.” Oikawa declared, and he took Kenma’s hand and started to pull him who knows where, since Oikawa didn’t know how to get around. Nonetheless, who was he to deny him? 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Now this was getting weird. 

It had been a few days since Seijoh got here, and the training aspect of the training camp was great. They had both won and lost, tweaked strategies and perfected moves with the other team by their side doing the same. It was helpful for all of them, and to be honest, Kenma was starting to open up a little bit more. 

Hanamaki and Matsukawa were definitely something, that was for sure, and they didn’t know much about personal space, but they did know when to legitimately back off and were more like annoying older brothers than anything else. Tolerable. Iwaizumi was very kind and almost parental in the way he relentlessly cared about everyone, making sure the teams got enough water and making sure that they were all given breaks in between games. He had a good head on his shoulders, and Kenma liked him. 

The second years were interesting. Yahaba was nice, he knew not to bother Kenma too much. Watari was much the same. Kyoutani was a surprise, though. For how angry he was on the court, he was very quiet with Kenma and made for good company. Occasionally he watched Kenma play on his PSP and made quiet comments on strategy. Kindaichi was skittish around him. He had no clue why. Kunimi was a blessing, not talking to him much at all and whenever someone did something stupid, they shared a look and a sigh together. 

All in all, the camp was fun and there was no one there that he truly felt weird around, but Oikawa had been acting strangely, almost muted. Kenma found it to be a little creepy, honestly. He would always get all quiet instead of piping up with a million things to talk about and say, still talking of course, but it was as if someone had took out a chunk of him. He didn’t like it, and Kenma feels bad that he thinks he might be the reason why. 

It was after dinner, and Oikawa was talking (at a normal volume) about how the games had gone and how well the teams were improving as they walked aimlessly around the building. Kenma suddenly stopped in his tracks, squinting up at Oikawa in a disapproving manner. When the brunet turned to look at him, he automatically flinched and it was like a flood of words that he had been waiting to say came out. 

“Did I do something wrong? Sorry, I just knew that this was going to be special since it was the first time that we’ve met in person for a while and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable at all, and-” 

“Tooru,” Kenma interrupted him, and immediately Oikawa wilted and looked at the floor like a sad little puppy, or a kid who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “You’re not going to scare me off, you know. If I was going to run away, I would have done that a long time ago.” He said simply, managing to make eye contact the entire time he spoke. The way that Oikawa looked up at him with such hope in his eyes made it mostly worth it. 

“Are you sure?” Oikawa asked quietly. “I can be a handful.” 

“You act like I didn’t already know that.” Kenma snorted, rolling his eyes at him. Slowly, Oikawa’s lips broke into a huge smile, and while Kenma felt a little wary, he knew what he was getting into. 

“You asked for it, then.” Oikawa sing-songed with a little spark of mischief in his eyes, and then he went on the recount the entirety of his day in great detail, down to how ‘his Iwa-chan’ had scolded him about waking up late in the morning and how his meat at the barbeque was a little overcooked but he didn’t mind. Kenma listened to it all in blissful silence, not having to say a single word. It was wonderful. There was the Oikawa that he knew. They walked around for a little while longer before they stopped at the rooms where the Nekoma team was staying, and Oikawa turned to him. 

“See you tomorrow?” Oikawa said brightly, rocking back and forth easily on the balls of his feet, and Kenma couldn’t help but give him a small smile. 

“See you tomorrow, Tooru.” He murmured gently, and Oikawa seemed to freeze at that, and- did he see some pink on his cheeks, or was it the light from the setting sun behind them? Before he could even get another word out, he felt light pressure on his cheek and saw Oikawa all but skipping away. 

“Bye, Ken-chan!” He giggled, and before Kenma knew it, he had disappeared. Kenma touched his cheek gently, feeling them grow red as he squeezed his eyes shut. That flirtatious, perfect- just- ugh. His brain wasn’t working, and for the rest of the night Kenma debated if the ghost of pressure was a kiss on the cheek or his imagination. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

“Iwa-chan, I just can’t! He’s gonna reject me, I know it!” Oikawa groaned into his hands for probably the millionth time, back in the part of the building where Seijoh was staying. 

“Literally, how dumb are you?” Iwaizumi said in exasperation. “He outwardly tolerates you, which Kuroo himself said is a feat for knowing him for as long as you have. If you should trust anyone about this, it should be Kuroo.” 

“I know, but he’s so tiny and adorable? He listens to everything, and not just like fake-listens, but really listens to me and I think that my usual flirting method will just make him uncomfortable. I just can’t mess this up, I can’t.” Oikawa whined. Suddenly, a sound chimed on Oikawa’s phone. 

From: Bedhead Terror   
To: Me   
>> Did you break kenma  
>> You broke kenma   
>> I think so at least   
>> He’s redder than a tomato and hasn’t stopped mumbling about something for a solid five minutes  
>> It’s lowkey freaking everyone out

Iwaizumi looked over his shoulder and read the texts, raising an eyebrow at the now-blushing setter next to him. 

“What did you do now, Shittykawa?” He said suspiciously, and Oikawa slowly sank down into his seat. 

“I may have kissed him on the cheek.” Oikawa mumbled, his eyes wide, and Iwaizumi stared at him for a solid minute before sighing wearily. 

“Listen. I don’t know what else you want for a sign, right now. Kenma’s dying over there because of your affection, and I cannot believe you keep on forgetting the fact that you’re soulmates. Even though he claims soulmates aren’t his thing, you’re still his soulmate, and soulmates care about each other. Now, I am going to ask you a very simple question. Is your tattoo green?” Iwaizumi spoke to him slowly, looking him dead in the eye. Meekly, Oikawa shook his head, and Iwaizumi flicked his arm. “Then what the hell is your problem?” 

Oikawa just sat there for a few moments, stunned, before he took in a deep breath. “Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow.” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

“You’re leaving tomorrow.” Kenma said softly, looking up at the sky and not daring to look over at Oikawa. The training camp will end tomorrow, along with seeing Oikawa every single day and hearing his laugh and seeing his smile and wow, was this what it felt like to be in love? It was uncomfortable and weird, why did people search all their lives to find a person who would give them chest pains?

“It’s not like I’m dying tomorrow, Ken-chan. We’ll still text, and you could visit me if you want. Or I visit you, either way.” Oikawa laughed softly, glancing over at him. They were on the rooftop, watching the sun dip below the clouds and the hills, only to be seen tomorrow morning. This was where Kenma liked to go when he needed to have some peace and quiet, but having Oikawa up here with him was a welcome change. 

“I know, it’ll just be different.” Kenma shrugged softly, curling into himself with his arms wrapped around his legs and his back hunched slightly. He didn’t mention how much he would miss Oikawa. He wished he could. 

“We can make it work. I’ll be happy as long as I get to see you every once in awhile, at least. I’ll get lonely otherwise,” Oikawa said gently to him, a breeze passing through as he hesitantly opened his mouth to speak again. “Hey, Ken-chan, can I ask you something?” 

Looking sideways at him, Kenma nodded. He was curious now, and his attention was focused on him. Oikawa took in a shaky breath. 

“I- I know that having me as your soulmate wasn’t something you were very enthusiastic about, and I’m happy you opened up to me and gave me a chance. You’re someone who I hold very close now, and I hope you do the same, but I don’t think I can do this much longer without telling you. You’ve got a right to know, after all,” He chuckled in such a self-effacing way that it made Kenma’s heart break a bit. “I have feelings for you. I love to see those little smiles you get sometimes, how you wrinkle your nose whenever you realize you did something wrong, and how you can calm anyone down just with your presence. 

“You listen to me and genuinely care, and that’s more than I could have ever hoped for, honestly. So if you don’t feel the same, that’s completely fine, you can ignore this ever happened and we can go back to being friends. I’m fine with that,” Kenma could feel himself getting emotional because Oikawa would most definitely not be fine with that, but he would pretend like he would be for Kenma’s sake. “Just don’t shut me out, please.” He finished quietly, and when Kenma looked up, he saw those doe eyes looking at him with a look he hated. Fear, embarrassment, the same look that he had seen the first time they had met. He would wipe those emotions away. He didn’t want to see them again. 

Without another word, Kenma moved to him and wrapped his arms around his neck, sitting on his lap and holding him so tightly that his knuckles were white. “I have feelings for you, too.” He said softly into the curve of his neck, feeling his heart jump into his throat and a large smile on his face. Oikawa was frozen only for a split second before his arms jumped out to pull Kenma close, a relieved laugh escaping his lips. 

Kenma’s heart was beating quickly, his hands were clammy and his brain was going at a million miles a minute. So this was what people were talking about when they found their soulmate. Maybe his reaction just took a while longer. His viewpoint on them didn’t change, of course. Soulmates were still people, navigating the world together with no guarantees of a happy ending in sight. 

But now, with Oikawa holding onto him so tightly, he thought that maybe it wasn’t the guarantee of a happy ending that was important to people. Maybe it was putting in the effort to try and get there with the person you were happiest with. 

EPILOGUE:

Oikawa was bored, laying on his dorm room floor on a Saturday afternoon. His roommate, Sugawara, was probably out somewhere making out with his boyfriend lazily at a cafe or something. 

Was he jealous? 

… Maybe. 

Okay, it wasn’t like he was ungrateful. He had a wonderful boyfriend who he loved with all of his heart. In fact, Kenma was probably one of the best things to ever happen to him. But that wasn’t what made him jealous, it was the distance. Suga could pop over and walk five minutes to Daichi’s apartment and see him whenever he wanted, but Oikawa? No, his university was two hours away by train. Given, it could be a whole lot worse, but he just desperately wished that Kenma could be here. 

He wouldn’t recommend his University, Chuo, to his boyfriend, though. Why, one may ask? Because he didn’t want to force him to go to his school just because he was there, he wasn’t nearly that selfish. Well, he was, kind of, but not when it came to Kenma. They never really talked about Universities, mostly because they both wanted to avoid the topic of Kenma’s school possibly being even farther away to Oikawa than where he was now. Neither of them wanted to think about that. He sighed, rolling over to sit up and grab his phone when an incoming text came in. 

From: My love~   
To: Me   
>> let me in   
>> left my spare key at home

… Kenma? Getting up so quickly that he nearly fell over, Oikawa rushed to the door and unlocked it, opening it to see his boyfriend out in the cold snow with a light jacket on, a well-worn scarf and little else to protect from the cold December air. 

“Baby, what the hell- get inside, you’ll freeze!” Oikawa exclaimed, ushering him in and closing the door behind them as he pulled his boyfriend into a hug. His skin was like ice and he was shivering, but what scared him most was that he hadn’t uttered a single word. Kenma, over the year, had gotten more comfortable with talking more often, and wasn’t often as silent as he had been in high school, so this was a little scary. “Kenma?” He prompted, letting go so that he could look at him.

His eyes were big and bright, shining like nothing he had seen before. His cheeks and the tip of his nose were rosy from the biting cold, and his hands were shaking as he clutched a bunch of papers. His lips were wobbly, but he didn’t look unhappy. He looked elated. Without a word, he shoved the papers into Oikawa’s hands. 

Oikawa’s eyebrows furrowed, looking at Kenma in confusion, but he took a look at the papers and skimmed the contents- ‘Dear Kozume Kenma… blah blah blah… Chuo university is highly esteemed… blah blah blah… We are pleased to inform you that you… have gotten in on a scholarship’. 

Oh. Oh my god. He looked up in shock to see Kenma smiling widely at Oikawa, and he couldn’t help but mirror it. 

“That’s amazing, I’m so proud of you!” Oikawa exclaimed, pulling him into another tight hug that Kenma easily returned. 

“We’re gonna go to the same University,” Kenma murmured in his ear giddily, and Oikawa could feel warmth curling in his chest as he beamed. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were applying?” Oikawa asked, still in slight disbelief. 

“I didn’t want to get our hopes up in case I didn’t make it in,” Kenma shrugged, a smaller smile now on his lips, but it was no less genuine. “Besides, you always surprise me with gifts and visits, so I wanted to do the same.” Kenma admitted as well,his eyes sliding away like they usually did with a slight pink on his cheeks. 

“And I thought I was the sap. What happened to the guy who hated soulmates?” Oikawa laughed brightly, brushing away a few stray hairs from Kenma’s face. 

“I didn’t hate them, I hated the assumed happy endings. But right now,” Kenma looked into his eyes again, a growing smile curving on his lips. “I’m not assuming anything. It’ll be hard, but I think that in the end, we’ll have one.” With that, he stood on his tiptoes and pressed a tiny kiss to Oikawa’s lips. 

Sure, life is unpredictable. It’s ridiculous and ironic and cruel sometimes, but that would be ignoring all of the good it gives us. It gives us sleepy mornings with sunshine and a good mood. It gives us laughter, joy, and giddiness- the kind that makes your toes curl and your face flush and your eyes sparkle in the night. No one could have one without the other, but that was what made it life. And going through the bad with someone you love is all the more worth it when you are with them through the good.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm back, right before summer ends I know, but I just didn't have much motivation these past few months and I didn't want to force myself to write because it never turns out as well as my other works do. I finally got my groove back recently, and I hope to be updating more frequently now. Thank you all for being patient, and I hope you enjoyed! <3 
> 
> Options!   
> A) BokuOiKuro (not started)  
> B) TanaNoya (not started)  
> C) Kinkuni (not started)  
> D) Saekiyoko (not started)  
> E) Other, hmu! 
> 
> My tumblr is @decadentcandyeagle if you want to hmu or be my friend! Have a great day!


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